Seong-ho looked steadily at Hyeon-u Bang, vice-chairman of Mirae Group, and said,

"Vice-Chairman. For Mirae to make this deal, Ilhyeon has to be in it."

Vice-Chairman Bang, his face deeply furrowed, said,

"So what you're saying, in the end, is that Ilhyeon means to swallow Sunwoo Electronics?"

"That's not it."

"It's not?"

Puzzlement rose over Bang's furrowed face.

"Then what do you mean? Didn't you just say Ilhyeon has to be part of the deal?"

"Us being in it and Ilhyeon swallowing Sunwoo Electronics are two different stories. Sunwoo Electronics could just as well go to Mirae."

"We… could swallow Sunwoo Electronics?"

As if he'd heard something unexpected, Bang's eyebrows lifted.

Seong-ho nodded and began saying things Bang was likely to find interesting.

"It's a three-way negotiation. For a three-way negotiation to work, we hand a company to Sunwoo, Sunwoo to Mirae, and Mirae to Ilhyeon."

"…Yes. That's how it ought to proceed."

"In that case, doesn't Sunwoo Electronics naturally suit Mirae?"

"It does. That's exactly it. Sunwoo Electronics ought to come to us."

Seong-ho quietly watched Bang's furrowed face brighten.

"Let's make this clear right here. Sunwoo Electronics gets handed to us, understood?"

Watching Bang insist, with no idea Sunwoo Electronics was a bomb, that he'd take it no matter what, Seong-ho opened his mouth.

"As I said a moment ago, Ilhyeon can give up Sunwoo Electronics. Ilhyeon Electronics has the competitiveness to survive in the world market even without it. But we have to gain something too, don't we, for the picture to come together."

"Something to gain…"

Bang wore an uneasy expression.

"We've got nothing to put up, though…"

"If it stays like this, the talk can only keep going in circles. Sunwoo will surely come at Mirae demanding Mirae Motors."

"That won't do."

"But among the affiliates Mirae holds now, the only one that pulls revenue and profit anywhere near Sunwoo Electronics is Mirae Motors."

"That's true, but…"

Bang still wore an uneasy expression.

After Bang's late father — Mirae Group's founder — took to his sickbed, the group's fortunes had certainly shrunk a great deal…